Buckingham Swans II 0-49 St Neots Ladies

St Neots Ladies travelled to Buckingham for the opening game of the 2022/23 league feeling positive from their Cup win the weekend before. Saints started the game and put the pressure on immediately with the chase from kick off. The first scrum of the day followed soon after with a knock on from Swans allowing Saints to attack almost immediately. Quick hands and secure ball set Sophie Lanham up for the first try, blasting through the defence to score just left of the post and then converting her own try. Buckingham were by no means disheartened though and followed up the restart with enthusiastic defence, forcing the off-loads and competing well at the breakdown. St Neots gained good ground by supporting the ball carriers but Buckingham won themselves the put in at the scrum for their efforts. Swans made a break and got themselves back in to Saints half off the set piece but were brought down with a great covering tackle from full back Libby Robinson. Unable to capitalise on a penalty, Swans gave possession back to St Neots and the backs had an opportunity to put into place some moves and set up Chloe Flynn-Brown to dance over the line. Conversion by Lanham.

Buckingham kept the pressure on and made Saints work the defensive line but were ultimately unable to hang on to the ball under the determined response from St Neots and were pushed back into their own 22. Several scrums later and after a few repelled attempts captain Megan Thody pushed through to the line and used a calm head to ground the ball over the line despite the dedicated defence keeping her on the edge of the box. Conversion number 3 for Lanham. From there the ladies in blue settled into an open and flowing game with some brilliant lines on individual runs and excellent supporting play to maintain possession. Using the full width of the pitch and all players getting involved, it was a quick return to the opponent's 22 setting up Lanham to run in her second try, also converted. Credit to Buckingham though who made the rest of the half a real tussle, testing the Saints Ladies in different aspects of their defensive training and forcing a trade-mark flying tackle from Beth Robinson to push their winger into touch and end the half.

Fully focused from the off, St Neots took the restart on at pace, with quick hands getting the ball to Katy Davies who made an outstanding solo run to score her first try which gave even coach Johnny Mo a few tears of joy to see. Conversion by Lanham. There were more scrums on the menu for the second half with the physical test starting to take its toll on the Swans with a few injuries cropping up but maintaining the contest throughout. The home team managed to take advantage of some isolated players and built a few phases, but St Neots defence held true and the turn-over came with a ripped ball by Thody. A couple of penalties helped Saints to move back into the opposing 22 and a beautifully worked line out, maul and linking back line play led to Faye Holton going over for the second try of the half. Conversion by Lanham.

In the true spirit of rugby, Buckingham kept at it and fought hard to find a way through the St Neots wall but the tenacity of the Saints and the consistent pressure were enough to keep the home team away from the danger zone. A ripped ball by Kirsty Wilson turned defence into attack and a quick reset by Saints and quick hands sent Libby Robinson over to score in the last play of the game. Lanham converted to keep a 100% record with the boot to close the scoring.
Forward of the match went to Holly Hazel, back of the match Katy Davies and coach's player was Lucy Bull.

The ladies next take on Bedford at home, this time as a league game, on Sunday 2nd October